Medical care accounts 1/6 of the US economy. That means that for every $1, 16 cents is spent on medical care. That sounds not so bad until one breaks down what that means in terms of jobs and medical treatment.

Researching the footprint that hospitals have in Western Kentucky only in terms of economic impact starkly illustrates the effect that changes in delivery of health and medical care will have on this region.

In looking at the numbers, we freely admit they are only a snapshot in time. Changes in staffing and management affect hospitals on a daily basis. Our research doesn't even take into account the number of doctors' offices, walk in clinics, drug stores, medical device distributors that depend on the dollars generated by the sick and those trying to avoid being sick.

Our best estimate is that hospitals generate over one billion dollars in fifteen Western Kentucky counties. Those dollars come from private and group insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and private pay patients.

West Kentucky Journal researched seventeen hospitals from Hopkinsville to Paducah. Hospitals defined as "rural" are the smallest in the region - ranging from 25 to 105 beds. Urban hospitals beds ranged from 135 to 320 beds.

Information from a report on American hospitals issued annually by US News and World Report formed the basis of this article. As such, the data collected may be a few years out of date. Where we could update from available information, we did.

Numbers are estimates only and are not accurate to the last person or penny. Changing demands, changing staffing create changing environments in the delivery of medical care.

These counties collectively had an operational platform of (1) 215 doctors (2) 322 nurses and (3) 331 beds. Some 71,000 patients visited the Emergency Rooms. Out of those numbers saw 9,000 admissions to the hospitals.

Cost of doctors, nurses, staff, and general operations are estimated at over $335,000,000.

In addition to nurses and doctors, support staff - lab techs, food services, maintenance add hundreds of jobs. No hard data on small hospital support staffing. is available for the hospitals listed here, it is estimated that a 25 bed hospital employs at least 150 people.

Urban Hospitals

"Urban" hospitals are those defined as having over 105 beds. While recognizing the arbitrary choice and knowing that calling all of those listed below "urban" may be overly ambitious, we still felt it necessary to look at hospitals that serve larger with populations.

Urban hospital in the area have a total of1541 beds, treating 238,000 patients, admitting 32,000, employing 1960 nurses and 758 doctors. It is estimated by www.Quora.com that a 250 bed hospital employs a staff of 1500- 2000.